


Blood Orange

by midnightweeds



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Non-Magical, Blackouts, Deception, F/M, Girls Kissing, Graphic Description, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Isolation, Manipulation, Murder, One Shot Collection, Roommates, Sex, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 16:50:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12586348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightweeds/pseuds/midnightweeds
Summary: read the tags for warnings"Welcome home," he'd said, all warm and soothing, and she was sure she never wanted to live with anyone else. Ever. For the rest of her natural life."You smell sweet," he told her as she passed. "Like an orange."If she'd known that that mattered, she probably wouldn't have laughed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is a **dark** series of one shots centered around cho and cedric. timeline is about 8-12 months from start to finish.
> 
> my apologies for any mistakes, they'll will be mixed over the next few days. the entirety of this will be posted before the night changes.
> 
>  
> 
> _happy halloween my spooky darlings_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks to sissannis for reading this part for me!

> _WANTED_ : (1) FLATMATE. Shared living space and kitchen. Separate rooms and bathrooms. Bedroom is partially furnished: king size bed, mattress, and mirror. Must be open-minded and tolerant. Must be comfortable living with a male. Minimal noise. Students and professionals welcome. Rent is $550 a month, cleaning and utilities included. Fill out attached form and send back via email RE: Flatmate.
> 
> Serious inquiries only.

* * *

>   ** _zero_**

Cho moved in on a Tuesday. She remembers because she'd always thought Tuesday was the worst day of the week. But, that was before Cedric Diggory opened the heavy door of the apartment and grinned at her.

"Welcome home," he'd said, all warm and soothing, and she was sure she never wanted to live with anyone else. Ever. For the rest of her natural life.

"You smell sweet," he told her as she passed. "Like an orange."

If she'd known that that mattered, she probably wouldn't have laughed. But, she didn't, and she did, and it was again a Tuesday when she found him sucking a blood bag in their kitchen, the drawn curtains masking him in darkness for just a moment. If she hadn't been so unnaturally intrigued, she would have taken his offer to give her, her rent money back. To leave and never look back. But, she'd grabbed one of the fresh oranges on the table and sat down, peeling it slowly, and Cedric heated a mug in the microwave before pouring the rest of his bag in it and sitting down across from her.

He'd said something stupid. Ran his tongue along his teeth and laughed. Cho only remembered because his fangs were oddly placed, and his teeth were so white that seemed to glow in the dark. The metallic smell of the blood had flooded her nose as she swallowed an orange slice.

She shouldn't have laughed. And she shouldn't have sat down with him. She should have left when he'd given her the chance. But, Cho had been running her whole life. She didn't want to anymore. Not when she could still feel the warmth of his smile that first day she'd moved in.

"You're a vampire?" She'd asked.

"Yes."

"But…we're good, right?"

He'd laughed, so handsome and so sweet. He watched as she bit into an orange slice. Watched the juices crawl down her chin. Watched as she wiped it. His eyes had been so clear when they found hers. "Yes, Cho," he'd assured her. "We're great."

And it felt great. She felt special. Like a rule or an exception.

So really, she probably wouldn't have done anything differently at all.

 

* * *

> **_one_ **

"I like the warmth," Cedric smiled, his bright eyes never leaving Cho.

She looked down at the table, at his pale fingers around the white of his coffee cup, and tried to remember a time she'd been so foolish in the past. Before Cedric, of course. Because she'd done countless stupid, stupid, foolish things since meeting him.

The corners of his lips curved upward as their gazes met, offering her the handsome half-smile she was sure she'd never forget.

"You and everybody else, Cedric," she teased him.

"Sure. But, they don't value it."

She smiled too, her insides twisting when she realized it pleased him. "What are you saying, then? Only vampires can 'value' comfort?"

He leaned closer over the small tea shop table, the air of tranquil nothingness that surrounded him crowding her. "The cold reminds me what I am." His eyes sobered for a moment, dark and certain as he said, "It brings out the monster."

"The warmth reminds you of life."

"Of course."

She laughed, thinking of he always commented on her cold hands. "I must sicken you, then."

"On the contrary," he murmured, fingers landing on the bare skin of her knee beneath the table. "I've never felt more alive." He grinned at the blush stretching across her cheeks. "I swear I can feel my own heart beating. I can't imagine anything better."

Cho very briefly considered how they'd gotten there. How two months had passed of her getting sucked deeper and deeper into his small world. She could barely remember life before. It was a blur of undefined sensibility.

And his fingers were on her knee, almost uncomfortably cold. She'd gotten so used to it now. To all of it. She wanted more.

She pressed deeper into his hold, enjoying the feel of his fingers slipping around her knee cap, beneath the edge of her skirt. As his palm pressed against her bone, she asked, "You can't imagine  _anything_ better, Cedric?"

She watched his eyes slide down her face to her throat. Watched him lick his lips, the ghost of his misplaced fangs against the swell of the lower. Her heart began to pound in her chest, fierce and desperate, and he pulled his hand away.

"Know what you're suggesting, Cho," he told her, voice low in his chest. "It isn't something you can take back."

"I know what I'm suggesting. I've thought about it."

It would have been a lie if she hadn't believed herself.

Cedric drank his coffee in a few sure gulps, the pale column of his throat distracting Cho. She wondered what it would be like if their roles were switched, if she were the one interested in consuming him, and realized she already was.

He pressed his palm back into her knee, lashes fluttering against the high curve of his cheek. His chest trembled, and Cho felt more alive than she ever had.

She wished she could see his eyes.

"You're a dream," he told her, smirking as she laughed. His gaze climbed up her throat and mouth before settling on her eyes.

"The throat isn't the best part," he told her. With his free hand, he poured himself another cup of coffee from the small pot the waitress left. "A tease for us both."

"For me?" She questioned, surprised.

"You'll enjoy it," he assured her, fingers pulsing on her thigh. "Would you like me to show you?"

Her cheeks flushed. "Here?"

His smile was soft. Eyes gentle. A hundred years could have passed and it wouldn't have mattered to Cho either way. "Let's finish our drinks, and we'll go."

* * *

It happened in the alley behind the tea shop.

Under any other circumstance, she wouldn't have agreed. But, Cedric was Cedric. He was safe and she was sure, especially when his lips met hers, chilly and firm as he backed her against the wall. He had an energy that soothed as much as it excited, and his cool body felt good pressed against hers, as though their souls were fusing.

When he nicked her tongue, he sucked the blood away with a moan, the sound smoothing over her like a breeze, coating her mouth and insides with hunger she wasn't familiar with.

"Cho," he murmured, lips brushing along her jaw.

She only hummed in response, melting into him when he chuckled. His thumbs pressed into the tender flesh under her jaw as he kissed down the swell of her throat, fangs grazing playfully.

"Ready?"

His touch was so cold it burned, and Cho pressed closer to him for more.

"Yes," she replied, voice pulled from deep within her.

"We like the throat because it's vulnerable," he told her softly.

His tongue slid over her skin, hot like dry ice. Cho slipped her arms under his, rubbing up his back as her skin began to tingle in response to his tongue's path.

His bottom teeth grazed her vein, and she felt it throbbing under her skin. Felt herself hungry. Felt herself wanting. Wonting.

She wondered, however briefly, if she was sharing his experience, if they really had shared souls, and she grounded herself by gripping his shoulders pulling him closer to her.

"Easy." He soothed the throbbing with a brush of his lips. His eyes lifted to hers, pupils blown wide and wild. "I prefer other areas. But, it's an intimate start. And you, my sweet Cho, smell so delightful."

"Mmhm," she agreed. "You, too," she told him, because it was the truth. He smelt like her childhood. Like warm sun and open fields and blinding light. She wanted to sink deeper into him. Needed to, even.

He chuckled. Licked her again, pressed his fangs to her skin. When he sucked her vein into his mouth, Cho gasped, her eyes opening wide at the gentle, intoxicating feel.

She clung closer to him, fingers tight, and he responded by holding her more firmly, suckling more surely. "Cedric," she breathed, relaxing into him. Her eyes closed in pleasure, head swimming.

He hummed, one hand cradling her jaw as the other settled over her heart.

"God," she panted, feeling as though she was floating- as though there was nothing and she was nothing but the purest part of the world. Brought even further into the warmth of her childhood memories, endless and hungry.

It was over too soon.

"There she is," she heard him say.

As the world came back into focus, she realized he was stroking her face, her head cradled in the curve of his elbow.

Her hand came up to her neck to find it tender, but she couldn't feel a scar.

"How are you?" He asked gently.

"Perfect," she told him.

He chuckled, still stroking her cheek. "I know…a tease, right?"

" _Yes_."

His fingers trailed down her throat. "It's better from behind. On the clavicle. It can last longer."

"You mentioned that it's better elsewhere."

He smirked, eyes seeming to smother her. Very slowly, the world came back and she remembered they were in an alley. That it was a cold, fall afternoon and that she wasn't the type of girl to just-

Well. She'd certainly never given anyone blood before. Not directly, at least.

His smirk softened as he said, "It's ok. You're still coming down."

She shifted slightly, looking around. Nothing looked different, but she felt different. Like there was a film over her mind and eyes. His fingers began to stroke her face again, the action reassuring and grounding.

"Better elsewhere," she repeated, some part of her mind already eager for the next time.

"Yes." His lips brushed the curve of her cheek. "Anyplace I don't have to worry about taking too much."

Cho nodded slowly. "I feel," she swallowed thickly, her hands finding his hips as she attempted to ground herself.

"I know," he told her before she could finish. He grinned when she looked up at him. "Me, too."

"Really?"

He pressed his hips to hers, chuckling when she laughed.

"God," she breathed, letting him go. "I can't believe-"

She closed her eyes as his hold loosened, leaning forward to rest her forehead on his chest. She pressed her hand over the bite, felt the phantom of bliss, but didn't last. "Are we real, Cedric?"

"Of course." He dipped his head and pressed his lips to her temple. "Too real. And you're so delicious. I feel cheated."

She hummed, eyes still closed.

"You ok, Cho?"

"I want- I  _need_  more."

Cedric chuckled, and if she'd been in her right mind-

"Me, too, my sweet."

-well, if she'd been in her right mind, they wouldn't have been there to begin with.


	2. Chapter 2

> **_two_ **

"Tonight?" Cho questioned, shifting away from Cedric when he attempted to grab her ankle. "What are you guys doing?"

"The usual," Padma told her through the phone. "Listen, I'm just about to pick up Susan, if you want to come, we can swing by your new place. It's been nearly three  _months_ , Cho. You haven't even invited us."

"Three  _months_ , Cho," Cedric mimicked lowly.

She grinned at him, rolling her eyes as she got out of his bed. "I know, I know. It's just…not good for company. He's very particular about things. And I have so much work to do."

"Yeah, yeah. You're an architect, asshole, not sending people to Pluto."

Cho rolled her eyes. "So, you're going for drinks at Rosemerta's and dancing The Claw?"

"What, are you guys, like, fucking or something?"

"What?!" Cho exclaimed in surprise. "Why would you even-"

" _And_  something," Cedric murmured, smirking as he got out of bed and slowly approached her.

"I mean- I heard he's like, hot, or whatever. He was a bio major at our school, wasn't he?"

"He was?" Cho leaned against a window, watching as Cedric nodded confirmation. "I didn't know. He's like…old."

She watched him smile broadly, his eyes crinkling and breath ghosting her face as he laughed. His cool hands settled on her shoulders, his nose familiar as he brushed it against hers.

"Old?" He asked, voice barely a whisper.

She didn't hear anything else Padma said, Cedric's lips distracting her as he pulled the thin skin of her jaw into his mouth. She bit her lip to keep quiet, tilting her face to give him more access.

"-so long since we've hung out. Even in the library you're so distracted. Just come out, have a few drinks."

"Can't," Cho told her. "Maybe…I'll ask him."

"Ask him what?" Padma asked quickly. "What the  _heck_ , Cho? Are you guys really fucking? Oh my god."

Cho pushed Cedric away when he began to laugh. "I promised I'd help him with something. He kind of like…doesn't have any friends to help out. So, I feel bad."

Cho grinned at the flat look he gave her, watching as he sat down in the chair. His eyes tracked her when she began to pace, tongue rubbing at his fangs. She imagined that she would have been afraid if she hadn't known him.

"You're not going to have any friends soon enough! What are you freaks going to do then? Lure more people to move in with you?"

Cho laughed, looking out the window as she drew her fingers through her hair. Cedric groaned, drawing her attention back. She watched as he shifted, readjusting himself in his sweat pants.

"Just text me when you're done with whatever. He can come, too, since he's so desperate for friends."

"Yeah," Cho sat down on the edge of the bed, jumping when Cedric instantly shot up, coming to kneel before her. His lips brushed her bare knee as she said, "Ok. Yeah. What-"

He continued up her inner thigh, gently coaxing her legs open as he pulled her closer to the edge.

"What time do you guys think you'll be dancing?"

"I-D-K. Probably, like, midnight. Yeah. In like three hours just meet us at The Claw."

She looked down at him, using her free hand to draw through his hair. He met her gaze, his own heavy with desire, and blinked a few times before nodding.

"Yeah," Cho agreed as she laid back, lifting her hips off the bed as he pulled her panties down her legs.

His teeth grazed the swell of her thigh. Fangs broke the skin.

"And you lames better be fucked up! Or else you have to take straight vodka shots. Three each. Off the back. We're having  _fun_  tonight."

"Midnight. The Claw. Show up fucked up. Got it." She hung up just as he began to suckle, hips reacting even before her mind could.

"Charming girl," he murmured against her.

"Mmm," she agreed, eyes focused on the ceiling. "Ced," she breathed, fingers tightening in his curls.

He gripped her hips to keep her still, tongue laving at the soft flesh of her thigh as he continued to drink.

Her mind went fuzzy, attention flooding below her waist as he loosened the grip on her hip, fingers massaging her legs as he smoothed his way to her center.

"Ced, please," she pleaded, not sure if she wanted him to continue drinking or move on.

He smiled against her, hand settling into the crease of her leg as his thumb brushed her slit.

Cho gasped, letting go of his hair in favor of his sheets.

Cedric pulled his fangs from her skin, soothing the bite with his tongue before kissing toward her core. "You taste so delicious, sweet girl," he murmured, kissing her slit before thumbing it open.

"Mmm," Cho managed, her mind racing with the need for more. " _Please_ ," she begged, barely recognizing her own voice.

She heard his chuckle loud and clear. Felt his smirk against her thigh before he kissed the soft swell of flesh so close to where she wanted him. Felt his breath ghost her skin. Felt the cool pad of his thumb hover over her clit.

"Patience, my love," he murmured.

"Ced," she breathed, and suddenly his mouth was on her. She tugged at his sheets, pressing herself closer to him.

She knew the way she wanted to feel, but what he'd given her wasn't enough. That she could even still comprehend where she ended and he started meant that he hadn't taken enough. Just a bite wouldn't work.

"Ced," she said again, chasing the pleasure that always came when he fed. "More.  _Please._ "

She pressed her eyes closed. Tried to remember the last time. Tried to remember the feeling of floating through the cool void that was Cedric and the warmth that ghosted them when he was hungry and she was so  _fucking_  desperate.

After a moment- after  _too long_ -, he asked, "What do you need, love?"

His voice pulled her out of her head, away from the inner hunt for more.

"Look at me," he demanded.

She propped herself up on her elbows, blinking a few times to clear her mind.

"What do you need, love?" He asked, but he knew. Better than she did.

He must have seen it in her face, because he chuckled, dark and handsome, kissing up her mound and onto her stomach. His nose brushed the soft swell of her skin, tongue sliding over her belly button as he climbed onto the bed, pulling his shirt up and off her body. Once it was over her head, he pressed his lips to hers in a quick kiss, hooking her thighs over his hips and leaning over her. His eyes were dark, pupils blown wide as they watched each other.

Cho felt her heart pounding, her mouth watering, and blood singing in anticipation.

Cedric smirked at her, grinding his hips into hers before her leaned in and brushed his nose to the soft spot beneath her ear. "What am I going to do with you, love?"

His lips were so cold as they lined her jaw with kisses. Cho moaned, her nails digging into his bare back.

"I just want to taste you," he told her, voice low with desire. His tongue dragged over her pulse. "Feel you come undone around my fingers, thighs trembling at my ears. Don't you want that, too?"

He bit her collarbone playfully, palming her breast as his hands roamed her body. "Can't you feel how good it makes me?" He asked, hips bucking against hers.

Cho gasped at the feel of him, full and heavy against her thigh. So close to wear he'd bitten her. If only his pants hadn't been in the way- "Cedric," she breathed, eyes opening to find him watching her.

There was a tenderness in his gaze that she hadn't expected. She tried to clear her mind. To think rationally.

"Are you not hungry?" She questioned, brow creased in confusion.

"I'm starving, babe. Haven't had much interest in those blood bags lately."

Her arm slipped between them, fingers curling around the edge of his sweats before she pushed her hand into them, nails dragging over his skin until they found his cock. She watched his eyes flicker as she drew her thumb over the head, spreading his pre-cum down his shaft.

"I'm starving, too," she told him, watching as his gaze darkened still. "You can eat me out later."

Cedric laughed, his fangs sharp in his mouth. "God, you're mental."

"Please fuck me," she suggested, feeling his cock twitch in her hand.

He tongued his fangs, eyes never leaving hers as he leaned in and sucked the swell of her breast into his mouth. Her eyes closed, head falling back on the bed and hand pulling out of his pants as the feel of him feeding finally settled over her.

Cho embraced the endless and hungry feeling she'd grown accustomed to, letting her mind blank as she relaxed into his bed and the feel of his hands roaming her body. It was pure heaven, the sting of his bite causing her to feel as though she was floating through space. She never wanted it to end.

He moaned, the sound seeming to spread over her in a slow crawl, and the last thing she remembered were his eyes looking down at her, heady and possessive, his hands warm like sunlight as they soothed her body.

It was bliss. Endless and consuming. And she wanted to drown in it.

* * *

"You alright, Cho?"

"Mmm," she replied, curling into his embrace. He smelt like a mixture of his body wash and her childhood. It somehow translated as safety and security.

"Did you still want to meet your friends?"

She could hardly imagine standing up, her mind was so hazy with bliss.

"It's nearly time. I'm sure they'd love to see you."

"Like this?" She questioned, attempting to open her eyes. "I can hardly tell my body from yours, Ced. They wouldn't even let me in."

He chuckled, squeezing her thigh familiarly. "Of course they will, love. You just look like a girl in love." His lips brushed her temple. Her cheek. Sucked her bottom lip into his mouth when she tilted her face toward him.

"It's incredible- dancing like this." His arms tightened around her, lifting off his bed and carrying her to her room.

She realized that he was ready to go, her own body dressed only in her panties, thighs sticky and breasts tender. "Is it really already twelve?"

"Yeah."

Cho kissed his jaw before he set her on the edge of her bed. "God," she drew her fingers through her messy hair. "It's crazy, how fast time goes when-" She let her words hang in the air, never finishing as statement as she watched as him sort through her closet. Swaying slightly, she propped her hand beside her and said, "You look so good."

He grinned at her, pulling a black shirt off a hanger. "You look good, baby."

She felt herself trembling and wasn't sure if she believed him. She felt stretched too thin.

As he filled the space before her, the trembling stopped, his nearness drawing her attention purposefully. His fingers drew over the bite near her nipple, his touch grounding her completely.

"I hope you don't mind. I didn't heal it."

She smiled as their eyes met, her mind singing at his attention. There was a bra by her foot, and she put on it before getting up and tugging the shirt over her head. She wrapped her arms around his neck when she was done, pulling him in for a kiss.

He responded languidly, slowing her down gently. It felt gluttonous and indulgent in a way she hadn't expected, her own teeth aching for something she didn't understand.

"Is this normal?" She asked. "I've never felt this…way before."

He stepped away to find some trousers, helping her into them. "It's the mark," he told her, palming her breast through her shirt. "Brings us closer."

She felt her whole body come alive at his touch, leaning into him for support. "God." She hadn't realized how low she felt without it.

"It'll dull with time. But, it'll make tonight incredible. Like ecstasy."

Her eyes watched his, unsure if she would be nervous of the excitement pulsing through her.

Cedric smiled, taking her face in his hand and brushing his lips to hers. "You trust me. Don't you?"

She smiled, too. "With my life, Ced."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is the murder-shot. the last scene is also....shady.

> **_three_ **

"Can I…watch you feed?"

Cedric frowned, seeming disgusted, and Cho was going to take it back before he said, "I would likely kill them."

She blinked. "What?"

"I haven't feed from another human in months, Cho. If I were to do that, I would likely kill them."

Their eyes met across the café table, both watching each other uncertainly.

"Likely?" She questioned.

Cedric half laughed, glancing over her shoulder before leaning in and saying, "I'm accustomed to feeding on you, now. You mean the world to me, so I keep you. They wouldn't mean anything to me, so I'd have to fill another desire."

"Have you killed before?"

He laughed, short and cold. So unlike the Cedric she knew. Cho didn't need him to answer the question anymore, but still he said, "Yes, my love. I've killed before."

"It's natural. A part of your survival."

"It is," he nodded.

She shrugged. "I'd love to watch."

He nodded slowly, eyes heavy on her before he said, "We could find someone," he lifted his chin in the direction of the exit. "In the museum."

She nodded, too. "Have you done this before?"

"Done what? Hunted?"

"Yes."

They both stood up, grapping their paper cups.

Cedric laced his fingers through hers as they made their way to the museum balcony. "Never with…a human." He brought their hands up to his mouth and kissed her knuckles. "A lot of firsts with you, Miss. Chang."

She felt herself blush. His laugh pulsed through her, warming her in a way nothing but his gaze did anymore.

"Really?" She asked.

"Is it so surprising?"

They reached the center of the balcony and looked down over the ground floor, watching as people made their way in and out of the museum. It was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday evening, and Cho wondered if that would benefit or hurt them.

"Yes," she told him, taking a sip of her tea. "Maybe," she half laughed. "I don't even know how old you are."

"I was born in '77."

She looked over at him too see that he was watching below, tongue brushing back and forth over the fang closest to her. "You're 40?"

He laughed. "Technically, I guess. I don't look much older than you do, so it's difficult to connect with people my own age." He shrugged, looking over at her. "Is that weird for you?"

"No, I…I get it. Do you have friends…your age?"

He smirked. "Many, actually. Some a little younger, a little older. Same problem. Over educated, under stimulated. Even older vampires stick to themselves.

"The elders say it's harder now. With how connected everything is." He paused for a moment before saying, "We'll have to evolve, to survive. The problem is that we progress very slowly, compared to you all. Time…doesn't exist."

"Perhaps it will. Now, I mean."

He nodded, eyes darting over her face before he looked back over the balcony edge.

It was the most he'd ever shared about his world. The most she'd ever asked. Cho wondered what it would be like to be immortal, to be frozen in time, and realize you'd have to evolve to survive.

His fingers flexed around hers as he took a sip of his coffee.

"How do you know? Who will taste good, I mean. Can you smell it?" She looked down, observing.

"Scent has a bit to do with it. Taste. There is a lot of experimenting that goes on in the beginning," he laughed. "It's about preference." He let go of her hand, drawing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her flush against him. "People smell like what they consume, food and drugs. How much sun and exercise they get. Emotion."

"What do I smell like?"

"Oranges," he told her, too quickly. He dipped his head, pressing his nose to her throat and inhaling.

Under the coffee, she could smell him, as clean and sure as her childhood, her heart beating a little faster.

"I grew up on an orange orchard in Spain. My parents were expatriates, living on and tending to the orchard. To the people." He kissed her temple as he pulled away from her throat, keeping his arm around her shoulders. "No matter what you eat, what you feel," he continued distantly, "You smell just like my boyhood. Only oranges."

She watched him swallow. Watched him continue to tongue his fang.

"I prefer normal people. Even mix of healthy and unhealthy. Non-athletic, not obese. Someone who doesn't smoke. Most of us who live around here like seafood eaters," he laughed. "You all are in abundance. Clean from the ocean. Everything else, fresh from the farms. People are like oysters, that way.

"Some are more affected by blood type, which is why blood bags are easy to get. I don't care about that, too much, but it's what the council wants."

Cho's brows rose as she realized that there was much more to his world than she ever realized.

"I like to taste the life," he told her, voice low. "It's sweetest at the very end."

The inhale he gave after told her he hadn't meant to say it out loud.

Her bones chilled, body shivering. She wasn't sure it was fear. "That's why you're going to kill them."

"It isn't something I get to do very often."

"I understand," she told him, lifting her free hand to twist her fingers through his at her shoulder. "It's life, Ced. Your reality. It's…okay with me."

They continued to watch below them, Cho tracking a blonde walking toward the staircase opposite them.

"What about her?" She pointed, turning to look at Cedric.

His eyes were closed, nose lifted in her direction. "I don't-" He pulled away from her, hand steadying on her hip before he said, "Stay here," and disappeared down the steps behind them

After a few minutes, he returned, pressing his lips to hers in greeting. "They're French. I don't like her much, but her sister."

He kissed her again, his fangs brushing against her tongue.

"Do you need something?" She asked lowly, eyes meeting his shyly. "Before?"

He grinned, lifting her wrist to his mouth and brushing her sleeve away with his nose.

Her eyes widened as she glanced around.

"Relax," he told her, pressing a few kisses to her skin. "No one is going to notice."

His tongue brushed her skin just before his fangs broke through. Her knees instantly went weak, mind flooding with hazy desire. With a hunger for more than just him.

He kept his eyes on her, dark and wide, his free arm drawing around her waist. When he finished, he sealed the bite and wiped his mouth in the palm of his hand. Licked the extra blood away.

"What do…what are we going to do with the body?"

"I know a guy. Snape. He takes care of things like this."

Cho nodded, her head heavy and body light. "Ok."

"Ready, my love?"

"Yes."

"They're in the gem room."

* * *

 

Cho sat perfectly still on the chair in the corner of Cedric's room, watching as he kissed down the other woman's neck, his eyes never leaving hers from their place on the bed.

The girl, Gabrielle, swallowed, the sound seeming to echo in Cho's ears as Gabrielle lifted a hand over her shoulder, holding Cedric to her as she moaned. His hands roamed her body, fingers pinching, pulling, and dragging across her skin. She recognized the expression on Gabrielle's face, the look of need and desire that seemed to overwhelm her innocent features until she began to reach for Cho, leaning toward her.

Cedric drew his arm around her waist, keeping her close.

"Please," Gabrielle breathed, her hand outstretched.

"Come," Cedric demanded.

She didn't want to, but he lifted his hand toward her, willing her forward, and she couldn't help but get up and allow Gabrielle to embrace her once she'd climbed onto his bed. Cedric kissed her over Gabrielle's shoulder, the blonde's hands rubbing up her hips.

"Ok?" Cedric asked.

"Yeah," she told him, leaning into his palm when he touched her face. "I trust you."

Cedric shivered, a soft smile on his lips as he guided her face to Gabrielle's. Cho hesitated before she kissed her, surprised at the excitement that met her.

"Oh, Cho," she breathed, kissing down her jaw and throat.

The named sounding wrong in her mouth. Cho kept her from saying it again by taking Gabrielle's face in her hands and kissing her. She felt Cedric's hands on her as his eyes fell closed. Felt the moment Gabrielle stopped enjoyed her, her gasp breaking the kiss. Cho took hold of her hands then, lacing their fingers as Cedric covered her mouth with is hand.

She sat back, fingers tight around Gabrielle's as she watched her attempt to fight. Cedric didn't meet her gaze, his eyes closed surely as he drank, very little blood spilling down Gabrielle's chest. After a moment, the blonde relaxed, her eyes heavily lidded as she watched Cho.

Cedric let go of her mouth, hand settling on her hip as he continued to feed.

Her fingers gripped Cho's weakly, and she leaned in, pressing a kiss to her lips. Cho let go of her hands, one settling over Cedric's and the other resting on her bare knee. Gabrielle responded lazily, her tongue sliding along Cho's, her hands roaming her body surely. They kept their eyes open as they kissed, watching each other dazedly, Cho swallowing her moans coolly.

She felt the sweetness Cedric had mentioned. It seemed to slide down her throat, seep into her skin as they touched, and the moan of pleasure Cedric gave meant he must have tasted it. She kissed down Gabrielle's jaw, nose brushing Cedric's, and he instantly pulled his fangs from her teeth, eyes closed as he kissed the corner of her mouth.  _Asking-_

She didn't hesitate.


	4. Chapter 4

> **_four_ **

"I wish we could do this every day," Cho murmured, lips against his throat.

"Everyday?" Cedric asked, rubbing her hip as they continued to lay on the couch. "We'd never leave the house, love. Your friends would certainly get suspicious."

"Fuck them."

He laughed, kissing her hair. She blinked blearily at the television, watching as Medusa threw a  _Powerpuff Girl_  into the pool.

"And, anyway, it's your friends that are suspicious," she reminded him.

Snape, a black-haired, hook-nosed, uber-tall, broomstick of a man had shown after Cedric finished feeding. He'd eyed her as though she was the plague, sniffing disgustedly in her direction before murmuring something to Cedric and folding the blonde's body into a suitcase. He'd handed an envelope full of cash over to Cedric, muttering something about a riddle before he'd left, barely acknowledging her apart from referring to her as his 'pet.'

It'd been a week and Cho still couldn't get the anger that flared in her chest out of her mind.

"They aren't suspicious," he told her, changing the television station. "Snape is always like that."

"You've used him before, then?"

"I've killed before," he reminded her. "The council doesn't approve of leaving bodies to be found. Of course, I've used them." His hand slipped into her joggers, thumb continuing to pass back and forth over her hip as he gripped her butt.

"Right," she murmured.

"We never talked about how you felt about that."

"I didn't feel anyway about it. You were feeding yourself. I…was supporting you."

He laughed, settling on  _Modern Family_  reruns. "We could…maybe, every over day."

"Your other friends. Hermione Granger," Cho recalled, accustomed to seeing her name on his phone. "She's-"

"Supportive," he commented.

"That isn't the word I would have used," she told him, and they both laughed. "They'd be suspicious, though. At least my friends have things to occupy their time. You already said it moved too slow for you all."

"It'll be fine," he looked down at her, smiling. Brushing his fingers to her cheek, he said. "Unless, of course, you're uninterested in me."

She leaned into his touch. "Yeah, right."

"That's settled, then. Every other day."

"What happens on our off days? We don't talk?"

"Jeez," he laughed. "I see how it is. You only like me for my teeth."

Cho laughed, too. Her fingers played across his chest. "I like you because you feel like home to me."

"Do I really?"

"Yeah," she laid her ear against his chest, watching the television screen blankly. "I guess it does give me time to actually focus my thesis."

He hummed. "I could help," he continued to rub his fingers against her cheek, eyes meeting hers when she looked up at him again. They both laughed as he leaned in to kiss her.

"That sounds unproductive."

He shrugged. "I could make love to you."

Cho blushed, looking away from him.

His fingers pushed her chin, forcing her to look back it him as he pushed them into a sitting position. "Is that okay with you, love?"

"Yeah," she told him voice quiet in the silence of the living room.

"Good."

He kissed her again, cradling her jaw in both hands, and it was then that Cho realized she was clearheaded. That she wanted him for him- not the ecstasy of his bite or familiarity of his touch. But, because he made her feel like nobody else.

"What's wrong?" He questioned, brow furrowed worriedly.

"Nothing," she told him quickly, straddling his lap on the couch. Her lips found his, kissing him surely as his hands steadied her hips. "Nothing, ever."

* * *

 

>   ** _five_**

"Ced? What's going-"

Cho froze in the hallway, watching as a tall red head boy and a dark-haired girl dragged Cedric in. The girl looked up at her as they tossed him on the couch, her big eyes probing, and the red said something that distracted her for only a second before she was rounding the couch and approaching Cho.

"You're the familiar, then?" She questioned coldly. "The one feeding him?"

"I," Cho glanced between the strangers. Watched the red stalk over to the kitchen and search the cabinets.

The girl snapped her fingers, bold red nails catching Cho's attention. "Focus on me, not him."

"Tha's why ju don' 'ave a familiar," Cedric slurred.

The girl ignored him. "Answer the question."

"Yes."

"How often?"

"Every other day."

"What?" The red remarked in surprise, stalking toward them. He gripped her shoulders, shaking her slightly. "What did you just say?" He asked, leaning in and smelling her before backing away as though she was some sort of hazard. "Has he been feeding you oranges?"

"You're  _sick_  Cedric," the girl said.

"The council is going to  _flip_ , Ced," the girl bite out. "Your parents were be _headed_  for this shit."

Cho blinked, rubbing confusedly at her forehead. "I'm sorry. Who are you people?"

"Hermione. That's Ron."

"Oh, Cho," Cedric said, trying to get up.

Ron pushed him back down before sitting beside him.

"I'm sorry," Cedric was saying. "I'm real sorry."

Ron said something to him, but Cho couldn't hear the conversation. She couldn't make sense of what was going on, and the girl – _Hermione_ , she reminded herself, remembering that she'd seen the name pop up on Cedric's phone- seemed to realize, shaking her head sadly.

"Every other day?" She questioned, folding her arms over her chest as she looked Cho over. "For how long?"

"Every other day? Two months, give or take a few days."

The kettle began to sing in the kitchen.

Hermione only stared at her.

"-fucking idiot, Cedric. You're supposed to be top of your year," Ron was saying as he got up. "Hermione was top of ours. You don't see her doing this shit."

Cho couldn't make out Cedric's reply over Hermione's, "Ron and I were out with Ced tonight. With a few others." She guided Cho over to the kitchen table, set an orange down in front of her.

"Fucking feeding it?" Ron angrily questioned. He set a cup of instant coffee down in front of Hermione and a cup of ginger tea in front of Cho before pouring two more mugs. "You're just as sick as he is."

"You just made her-"

"I'm trying to  _help_  the situation," Ron bit out as he picked up one of the mugs. "It's already bad enough. Look at them. The last thing we need is  _this_ , 'Mione. Not after what happened in Knockturn."

"He doesn't force me to eat oranges," Cho told them. "And, anyway, I just smell like them. It doesn't matter if I eat them or not."

The pair shared a look, Ron tugging at his hair in frustration. " _If_  that's true, you wouldn't smell like that to us if you weren't eating a  _shit_ -ton of these a day."

"They're my favorite fruit."

"We're fucked," he told Hermione, sipping his coffee before picking up the other mug. " _Fucked._  If the council gets wind of this-"

"They won't," Hermione told him surely.

"Yeah," he laughed drily. "Right."

They watched as he went back to the living room and forced a cup of black coffee into Cedric's hands.

"What does he mean?" Cho questioned. "Is something wrong?"

"The law says we are not to take familiars," Hermione told her coolly. "Particularly not in this fashion. And our roles make it difficult for us to…allow law breaking." She watched as Cho ate an orange slice. "Ron's a deputy in the Gryffindor district. I'm a doctor at Hogwarts."

"You…are a doctor?"

Hermione smiled, and Cho thought it would have been nice if she didn't remind her of Cedric calling himself a monster. "We're everywhere," she told her, finality in her voice.

"But, you're his friend," Cho back-peddled. "You won't turn him in."

Hermione bit her lip. "We were celebrating. Took some shots.

"Ced didn't tell us he had a familiar at home." Hermione took a sip of her coffee, the action seeming to mellow her. "More than just  _us_  saw him."

"My being his familiar," she stumbled over the word, pausing to soak it in. "It has some influence over something?"

"If I feed twice a week, that's heathy. I may supplement if I'm particularly busy, but its normal. Do you understand what I mean?"

"He's overeating."

"Which forms preference, and breeds addiction. Obviously."

Cho shifted in her seat, not liking the look Hermione gave her.

"It weakens our system, and this happens," she gestured blindly toward the living room. "He's fucked up right now, Cho. Nearly overdosed. Because you feed him every other day."

"I didn't know."

"You needed to be told feeding a creature that shouldn't even exist every other day is the wrong thing to do?" Hermione tilted her head. "You haven't notice what it does to you?"

Cho hesitated. Of course she'd noticed she was addicted. She just hadn't realized he was, too.

Hermione finished her coffee and stood up.

"Can you help him?" Cho stood up too, stepping closer to Hermione.

"Drink, eat," Hermione gestured to the tea and the rest of the orange. "Feed him when he needs it. But once he's better, I suggest you leave. It doesn't get any better. Not really."

"What does that mean?" Cho questioned, watching Ron as he forced the coffee down Cedric's throat. "Hey!" Cho exclaimed, starting toward him. "Don't be rough with him!"

The look Ron gave her was vicious, and Cho would have stopped on her own if Hermione hadn't gripped her wrist and pressed her against the wall. She hadn't thought it was possible, but Hermione's gaze was even worse. Like Ron, her fangs were bared, but her eyes were pitch black in their sockets, and Cho could see herself reflected in them. She felt her own fear as though it was being mirrored back, her heart pounding angrily in her chest.

Hermione was nothing like Cedric. She had the same base energy of nothingness, but she was not tranquil. She was laden with a sickening mixture of trepidation and power that left Cho struggling to breathe. After a moment, she grinned, her thumb brushing Cho's pulse point.

"Leave her, 'Mione," Ron said from across the room.

Cedric coughed before saying, "Please."

"Cedric knew what he was doing," she told her, stepping away and readjusting her leather jacket. "He can handle a little manhandling."

"Please," Cedric said again, voice weak.

Cho glanced in his direction, sadness and worry in her gaze, but didn't dare move under Hermione's scrutiny.

"You, on the other hand, won't last much longer." She tilted her head, gaze vicious and amused as her eyes cleared. "Not unlike the others."


	5. Chapter 5

> **_six_ **

Cho watched as Cedric sat up, curling further into her chair in the corner.

He groaned, rubbing tiredly at his face before pulling himself out of bed and blindly stumbling to his bathroom. She waited, listening as the toilet flushed and tap ran. Listening as he called, "Cho?" His voice like sandpaper. Listening as he coughed.

"Cho?" He tried again, stepping out of his bathroom.

He squinted when he saw her, sitting in the last strip of sunlight his bedroom had to offer, and smiled, his dry lips pulling slow over his teeth to reveal his fangs. "Oh," he said, "I didn't see you there." He made his way over, sitting on the edge of his bed nearest her chair and stretching a hand out toward her.

She didn't take it. "You look like Hermione."

He blinked. "What?"

She pointed at her own eyes. "They're all black. Like hers. When she attacked me."

"She attacked you?" He asked, both surprised and outraged. The emotions sounded even worse against his dry throat.

Cho could see his exhaustion, veins thin and blue beneath his skin. There were dark circles pressed beneath his eyes, his cheeks gaunt and skin sallow. It hurt her to see him this way – _hungry_ , she reminded herself,  _starving probably_ \- Hermione's warning continued to ring in her ears, loud and hurtful for three days.

"Before telling me I'd end up like the others."

"Cho," Cedric reached for her, into the light, and she shoved his hand away.

He ignored the way his wrist and fingers blistered, but she couldn't. The splotchy skin caused her heart to ache.

"Remember when you told me I had nothing to worry about?"

His eyes were downcast, shoulders trembling.

"It felt so good to hear you say that. Like I could trust you. Like I could stop running from every little thing. I remember because everyday, up until a few days ago, I've woke up feeling like a rule and exception. Literally. I felt  _special_.

"And to realize it was so  _stupid_ of me to think that I was," she laughed breathlessly. "To think that I wasn't just something alive for you to kill."

"I won't deny that there were others before you. I haven't kept that from you." He drew his hand through his hair, glancing around his room for a moment. "But, I never lied. You are so different from them. I never wanted them the same way I want you. Never  _needed_  them."

She got up from her seat, remaining the sunlight. There was a clear path to the door, but it would be gone soon. She wasn't sure what she would do when the sun set. When he had his advantage back.

Still, she paced back and forth. "The thing is, for  _months_  you've been sucking me deeper and deeper into your world. Not  _fucking_  pun intended. And I've let you, because what I feel when I'm with you, even before this vampire mess, it's nothing I've ever felt before. With anyone else.

"And these last few days…I've feared it was because you are what you are. But, I remembered how I felt around Ron and Hermione, and it wasn't the same. Not nearly," she half laughed. "That I had to learn that what we were doing is  _forbidden_  from her-" Cho broke off, shaking her head. "You made me into a fool."

"That was never my intention, Cho," he assured her. He stood up as well, body straining under the effort. "From the moment we've met, I've felt it, too. It isn't something I can understand, but when I'm with you, I feel alive again. For the first time since I was born-"

"You were born this way?" She asked, surprised.

He swallowed thickly. "There is a lot I haven't told you."

"So, you've always been dead."

"We are born or we are made. But, even when we're born this way, we spend a few years in between. Learning to be human so we fit in. It's easy. Eating, breathing. Feeling real," he laughed sadly. "Blood is a treat. A snack. And then, once we hit puberty, it becomes necessary. You kill or you die. You become a monster or the monster becomes you."

"You're real, Ced. Not a monster."

She moved to stand in front of him, hesitating before reaching into the dark and touching his bare chest. He stuttered beneath her touch, hand coming up to wrap around her wrist. His thumb pressed firm against her pulse.

There was no heart beat beneath her palm. There never had been, but Cho still believed in him.

Before she could stop him, he pulled her out of the sun, pressing his face into her throat. She panicked before she realized he was just breathing, his body trembling against hers.

"I'm so hungry, Cho."

"Please," she murmured when he began to crush her to him.

He let go instantly, stumbling away from her. She waited a moment, for him to meet her eyes. When he didn't, she escaped the bedroom for the kitchen, heating a mug in the microwave and grabbing a few blood bags from the fridge. She sat down at the table, pressing the bags under her thighs to warm them. The silence of the apartment felt deafening until she finally got up again, cutting one bag open and pouring it into the hot mug.

He was standing at the edge of the hallway, the living room still flooded with light from the open curtains. "The sun will set soon."

"Is that a threat?"

His gaze was still black, skirting around her as though he was ashamed. "No, Cho. You mean the world to me."

She nodded, handing over the mug. "Hermione dropped some bags off for when you woke up."

"Thank you." He murmured, lifting it slowly to his lips. He gulped it down hungrily, blood spilling from the corners of his mouth, down his jaw and throat.

"Take your time," Cho reminded him, moving to cut open another bag. "You'll make yourself sick." She put her hand out for the mug when she was standing before him again.

He shook his head, reaching for the bag. "I'll be okay."

"I'll trust Hermione in this-"

"You don't  _know_  Hermione, Cho. She can't even pick a side. She isn't whatever she's made you believe."

She bristled at his cold tone. "The mug," she told him firmly, hand still outstretched. As she began to pour, she said, "She's told me far more about this you have, Ced. I would have died."

"I wouldn't have let that happen."

She waited until he looked at her, chest straining with hunger and control, before handing the mug over. "Yeah." She told him as he chugged down a second bag. "Right."

"I miss you," he told her when he finished. He tongued his fangs. "You smell different, but I miss you."

"Take a shower, Cedric. We'll talk more when you look like yourself again."

He stared at her for a moment before turning and returning to his room.

Cho hesitated before going to her room and grabbing her phone from the charger.

**Hermione G.**

He's awake.

**What are you going to do?**

I don't know.

**What do you think you should do?**

I think I love him.

**This doesn't end the way you think it does, Chang.**

Help me.

Please I

I don't know.

I don't know what to do

**I already told you what to do.**


	6. Chapter 6

> **_seven_ **

Cedric was sitting at the dining room table when she got home, a pot of coffee on the table.

"You look horrible," she told him, putting her keys in the dish and kicking her shoes off. "Have you been up all day?"

"Yes," he told her plainly, watching as she walked over to the table.

She set her purse down and shrugged out of her coat, hanging it on a chair before pulling a few blood bags out. "Still warm," she told him, handing one over before putting the rest in the fridge. As she pulled a bag of potato chips from the cabinet she said, "You should get some rest."

"I'm sorry."

She froze, staring blankly at the countertop of a second before turning to look at him.

He'd gotten up and joined her in the kitchen. After pouring her a glass of orange juice, he pressed it into her hands and sat back down, staring at the blood bag on the table. She joined him slowly.

"I didn't mean to make you feel the way that I did." He met her eyes, swallowing thickly. "I grew up feeding from live humans. The same one, until the blood soured and they died. It's illegal, because once you start feeding on live humans, you can only survive on blood bags for so long. But, that's how my parents raised me, on the orchard. It was the old way." He looked back down at the blood bag she'd given him, smelling it through the packaging.

"I hunt to kill when I can. There are sanctioned times and limits. But, usually, I keep a human." He met her gaze again. "One can last three months. A year. It depends on the type of energy they have. Extroverts tend to last longer.

"I've lost track of the amount of people I've killed in the last forty years. Eighty, at least."

"And do you always call Snape?"

"Yes. He's well known in the science community, actually."

"So, he comes, muttering about a riddle as he pays you for your trash?"

"I've never thought of them as trash," was all he said.

"Why are you telling me this?" She questioned.

"I'd like to start over, if that's okay with you. Because I enjoyed your company, before. Before everything else."

"We started on a lie. You told me I smelled like oranges the moment I walked in."

"My initial plan was to kill you. But, that was before me met for coffee, before you moved in. Do you remember?" He looked at her curiously. "It was a Tuesday, then, too."

Hermione took a sip of her orange juice, feeling his eyes heavy on her.

"I knew then that this would be different, I just hadn't understood how. You filled me with such warmth over that hour. I knew I wanted to keep you, because I'd been searching for years for that feeling. For something to mimic what it was like before I realized who and what I was.

"And when you walked through the door that day, it was as though, for the first time in forever, I wasn't the hunter. I just…existed. Even after you found out. I was just Cedric. Just a man."

"You don't need me to know that you're valid, Cedric. If you weren't meant to be here, you wouldn't be."

"Even if I hadn't feed from you- I would have figured something out, Cho. I never wanted to hurt you."

She covered her face with her hands. "I don't want to hear this."

"Ok. I just…even if you don't want to start over, I think you deserve the truth."

"Ah," Cho said. "The truth."

"A rule and an exception."

She took a sip of her orange juice to ignore him. To ignore the way her heart was pounding so desperately in her chest. To ignore the way that stupid mark on her breast seemed to sing with life when he touched the blood bag.

"You've always been both."


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this part introduces some new information...in case i decide to keep going with this, but, it's certainly over for now.
> 
> thank you so much for reading ❤️ i hope you've enjoyed it.

> **_eight_ **

"Chang," Hermione greeted, her hands in the pocket of her coat.

"Dr. Granger," Cho countered, looking her over. "I hadn't realized that you were in pediatrics," she commented, looking at the little stuffed dragon on the statoscope around her neck.

Hermione picked up her file and gestured for her to follow. "We're a minority, Chang. Low live-birth rates, slow to evolve. Your kind certainly wouldn't be looking to ensure our health, now, would they?"

"I've nothing against you all, Dr. Granger."

They stopped in front of the glass room Cho was all too familiar with now. "I've been around a long time. My husband and I are very well versed in all forms of medicine, for the mortal and immortal." She gestured to the open door. "Have you met Lavender?"

Cho observed the pregnant woman looking through paperwork, watching as Hermione leaned in and set her file down. At her expectant gaze, Cho said, "No. I haven't met her."

"Ron's wife. She works with me in pediatrics. She's just about to go on maternity leave," Hermione explained, voice pinched. "I wanted to ensure that you all met, should you decide you want to continue doing this."

"I love Cedric, Hermione. Of course I will continue doing this."

"Do you think he loves you?"

"The fact that we feel like home to each other-"

"That isn't what I asked."

Cho frowned, scratching her face.

"I suggest you stop doing this. It's been nearly two months since you've been coming here. You're only hurting the both of you by staying. And he will only kill you."

"I don't believe that."

"We can't love humans. You all are a food source."

Cho looked down at the ground. "I like it better when you don't berate me. I'm an adult."

"Right, well," Hermione looked around quickly before saying. "Lavender will give you the information to her home, where you can go to get your blood drawn from here on out. She'll register you as a live donor with our council, that way when they come knocking to behead Cedric, you'll at least have your papers."

"What do you mean?" Cho asked.

Hermione gestured for her to enter to room. "Ask the man you claim to love," she told her coldly before leaving.

Lavender gave her a soft smile. "It's been a long day," she told her, gesturing to the empty seat. "Over a hundred and she still doesn't know when to drop it," Lavender laughed as she pulled on some gloves.

"I thought she was younger than Ced."

"Hermione?" Lavender laughed as she tied Cho's arm. "Absolutely not."

It explained more than it should have.

"Who is the other Dr. Granger?" Cho asked, remembering that Cedric didn't think she was trustworthy. All she'd proven to her was that was a bitch.

"Ugh," Lavender glanced at her confusedly, sterilizing her arm. "Her parents are both dentists, if that's what you're asking."

"They're still around?" Cho asked in surprise. "God. Wow." She held her breath as Lavender began to draw the blood. "I meant her husband."

"Oh," Lavender said coolly. "Dr. Riddle." She swallowed before saying, "He's very talented," and nothing else.

* * *

 Hermione was waiting in the lobby, dressed in her street clothes. "I'll walk you out," she said, fingers digging into Cho's elbow.

"I thought about it," Cho started as they walked toward the elevator.

"Did you?" Hermione questioned. "That's good."

Cho looked at her face. "It wasn't  _a_  riddle Snape was muttering about. You know Snape," she questioned when Hermione's face blanked, "don't you?"

"Severus Snape is a very talented chemist and natural medicine man. Of course, I know him."

"Right," Cho stared at her as they got on the elevator. "It wasn't  _a_  riddle that paid for that girl's body. It was Dr. Riddle."

"I didn't realize architecture was an investigative field, Miss. Chang. Really, that's, quite impressive."

"You all use the bodies of poor dead men and women-"

"For  _science_ ," Hermione stopped Cho from saying any more, backing her into the corner of the elevator. "Imagine the  _horror_  your world would be flooded with if they found bodies drained of blood around? One would be too many. There are people who kill once a  _week_ , Chang. More than that, even."

"Those families deserve closure."

"I don't expect you to understand," Hermione said as she backed off. "You aren't one of us."

"That isn't fair."

"What did you think would happen? When you and Ced grabbed that girl? That she would just disappear?"

"What happened to her, anyway?" Cho asked as they got off the elevator.

Hermione looked at her as though she was sick. As they left the hospital, she said, "I don't know, Chang."

Before they parted ways, Cho asked, "Could the council really behead him?"

Hermione folded her arms across her chest, a black car pulling up at the curb. "Yes."

"Would you let that happen?"

"There is little I could do to stop it, Chang."

"Is that why he calls you a hypocrite?"

She laughed drily. "I protect who and what I can, Cho," she told her. "Cedric knows that."

* * *

 "We aren't good for each other," Cho said, staring out his bedroom window.

The sky was darker than normal, seeming to eat her alive even from the safety of Cedric's room, and she wondered if it meant things would better when day broke.

"I…I can't live like this, Ced. I miss it."

He drew his fingers down her bare shoulder before rolling over, drawing an arm over her waist as he pulled her closer to him. Her eyes fell closed as she savored the feel of him.

"I miss it, too," he confessed, voice muffled from her hair. "I'm grateful for what you give me. More than you know. I miss the closeness. The feel of you seeking shelter in me."

His hand tightened at her hip for second.

"But, I love you."

Her eyes opened, heart stuttering.

"And I'd accept you any way. Even," he was trembling behind her, voice barely a whisper. "Even if that means letting you go, my sweet girl."

She turned over, pressing her face into his chest and sighing when his arms wrapped firmly around her. "I don't want to leave," she told him. "But I don't want to hurt any more. Addiction is serious, Ced. I have…dreams. I see them dulled by this."

"We've been doing so well," he commented, but they both understood. They were constantly one kiss away from slipping.

They were quiet for a long time, his hour warning alarm for the sunrise breaking the silence of his room some time later.

"Do you love me, too?"

"Yes." She tilted her head back so she could meet his eyes. "I love you, Cedric."

"Would you still love me if I couldn't feed from you?"

"I'll love you forever. But, I don't see how it could be possible," Cho told him as she sat up. "We'll always think about it, Ced. It'll always be within reach."

"Cho," he sat up as well, taking her face in his hands. "I hear you."

"I'm sorry," she told him, casting her eyes downward. "I wish I could be stronger. Or…that I left before."

"I love you," he repeated, voice firm and sure. "You've seen me, seen the monster, without fear. I'd never wish that you left. That you were any different, unless if were for the better."

"If I was stronger-"

"If I was too, Cho. Look at me."

It took a few seconds, but she lifted her gaze to meet his, her heart breaking at the emotion in them. She'd never seen them so fearful, so sure and certain.

"If I was stronger, we wouldn't be here, either. We can't change the past."

His thumb brushed a stray tear, lips pressing against her forehead for a moment. "I'll let you leave, if that's what you want."

Cho swallowed. Pulled out of his hold as she rubbed her cheeks. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Cedric? Are you threatening me?"

He smirked, shaking his head. "Never, my love. You know that."

He reached for her hand. She hesitated a moment before taking it.

"I'm just reminding you," he told her gently, fingers lacing through hers. "We are born. And we are made."

* * *

  

> _WANTED:_ (1) FLATMATE. Shared living space and kitchen. Separate rooms and bathrooms. Bedroom is partially furnished: king size bed, mattress, and mirror. Must be open-minded and tolerant. Must be comfortable living with a male/female couple. Minimal noise. Students and professionals welcome. Rent is $550 a month, cleaning and utilities included. Fill out attached form and send back via email RE: Flatmate.
> 
> Serious inquiries only.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!


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